Recent Posts

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Back To School Organizing Part 2: Sorting Out School Supplies & Study Spaces...

This week we are talking about BACK TO SCHOOL ORGANIZING!
And I am sharing with you some of the strategies I use in my home to keep things organized during the school year.
On Monday, we talked about Wardrobe Wrangling...how to get your children's wardrobes whipped into shape.
Today we are talking about Sorting Out School Supplies & Study Spaces.***

The List. The List.

We all have that Back to School List of things our children will need to begin a new school year.

And right now, the supplies are all on sale at rock bottom prices...

which makes it a great time to stock up for the whole year, so when you child comes home saying that they need more______ or they can't find their____, you are not running out to a store and paying 3 times more for the price of the item than it was in August or September.

I always take advantage of the sales this time of year and stock up.

And I like to have a home for the these extra supplies so the kids and I are not running all over the house looking for something when we need it.

A few years ago I purchased a simple plastic storage tower with drawers to keep everything organized.

It stores new School Supplies as well as things that are perfectly good & can be used again.

I used the label maker to label each of the drawers.

It's like having a little store in your own home!

Very handy.

This set of handy dandy drawers is stored in the laundry room and the kids know where to look if they need anything.

On another shelf in the laundry room is a huge stack of loose leaf and binders that the kids can help themselves to when needed.

Although this storage solution works for our home, a simpler method like an under the bed box would work just as well...or a box in a closet.

The key is to keep these items together somewhere in your house.

***

Another project we tackle at back to school time is

Study Spaces.My goal is to make sure that my children have comfortable spaces in which to do their homework. And I also like for them to have choices...they can do homework at the kitchen table as I prepare dinner, or if they would like a quieter space with no distractions...they both have desks in their bedrooms.

My son is in Elementary School, so he prefers to do his homework at the kitchen table.
We have a Homework Caddy to move around to make a Homework Station at the kitchen table, or our games table in the family room in our basement.
The Homework Caddy is filled with goodies for homework like pencils, markers, glue, scissors, etc. I like it because it has a handle so it can be moved around easily from table to table. It's actually meant for silverware, and I use it in the summer for our camping trips.
Here is the Homework Caddy workingin our games area in our family room in the basement.
Tyler likes to do homework here with Dad sometimes.

Part of getting ready for back to school is making sure that desks are clean & tidy with a lamp and pens & pencils, etc.
These spaces are not 'magazine styled' my friends...they are the real deal...exactly as my kids like their spaces!
My son's space is below...this is all he wants on his desk....and he loves his office chair.

And the hazards of living in a 'hockey house'... what?, you mean your son doesn't have a life size poster of his favourite hockey player on the wall behind his desk? You are totally missing out!
{This sticker is called a "Fat Head". It was a gift to my son for Christmas, and this is where he wanted it to go! I am hoping to relocate it when I re-do his room.}

My daughter is starting High School this year. She doesn't like an office chair with her desk...she prefers an old wooden chair.
Remember in yesterday's post I told you about the ZEN-like feel my daughter has happening in her bedroom right now?

Behold the clutter free desk:

She also likes to study on her bed sometimes, so for that she has a lap desk:

So there you have it...some ideas on how to organize school supplies and study spaces.
I hope you found at least one idea that you can take away to use in your home!

And yesterday I promised you some 'eye candy' and this is what I wanted to share with you.
Take a look at these fabulous study spaces I found on the Canadian House & Home website.

How about this cool mirror & chair?

I love this vintage feel of this space. The wicker is a wonderful touch.

I'm loving this series! Looks great. I have been organizing and purging the school supplies and have cleaned off and organized the "Homework Station". With 3 kids, this stuff can get out of hand so quick. Can't wait for tomorrow's post!

Boy this brings me back, Angie! I used to use a section of a cabinet we had in our little den to hold all the schools supplies. I think I had everything in there! Like yours, my kids knew just where to go if they needed new pencils or an eraser or a new notebook. It certainly made it easier than running out at the eleventh hour because they suddenly remembered they needed something.

What a fabulous post. I am "pinning" it so I can remember it and use some of your great ideas at our home. I LOVE organizing things. It makes me so happy! I would love for you to link this post to my "All Things Wonderful" link party I have going on at my blog right now. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Take care,Shaunamyshaenoel.blogspot.com

A couple of things jumped out at me. First - and this may be small but it is going to be super helpful with our craft supplies - is bagging up small batches of crayons. This will be a great way to prevent arguments over who gets what crayon and having a large number taken out at one time. The other thing that jumped out at me are your children's study spaces...they are simply spectacular and look like wonderful, restful places to learn. Thanks so much for sharing!

I just did a post on organizing our school supplies too! We did ours just a bit different, but I really love your idea of the caddy! I'll have to keep my eye out for one of those silverware baskets! That would work great for my kiddos! Thanks for all the great ideas!

I'm late to the party but may I ask where you got your utensil caddy? All the ones I'm finding only have 3 compartments on one side and one large open one on the other side. Thanks for all the great tips!

I had to look twice because I couldn't figure out how pictures of my carts got on your page. Mine are darn near identical (organized a little differently), right down to the labels (love my label maker) LOL.

My roommate just walked by & said "oh look, she has OCD just like you". :-)